


Just Liking Posts

by Sismyn



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 05:51:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18654226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sismyn/pseuds/Sismyn
Summary: Alex and Michael go on a date to an amusement park. It's called Astropark. Bet you can't guess the theme. There are shenanigans.This takes place in a happy malex future ;)





	Just Liking Posts

Michael had invaded Alex's computer. It was approximately twenty years younger than the ones in the internet cafe he usually used, and he much preferred to bother Alex over Max or Isobel. It did mean he'd have to clear the internet history, but not because he was being creepy. (His life had been threatened if he infected the fancy laptop with porn viruses of any sort.) 

No, he was looking for date ideas. Isobel had been going on and on about how she kind of missed planning dates, and gave some examples, and frankly, Michael's idea of classy date was at a sit-down restaurant with cloth napkins. 

If he was being honest, it was kind of expensive and boring, and he wanted to treat his boyfriend, but they could do better, if Isobel's dates were any sort of metric.

That was another reason he couldn't use Isobel's computer, though. She'd take it over and come up with something wonderful, yes, but he wanted to do it himself.

Unfortunately, Michael was easily distracted by Alex's Facebook feed, so he wasn't getting very far. It's why he didn't have one. That, and because he didn't want his only friends to be his siblings while they had (he checked their pages) approximately a thousand between them. 

Still, he scrolled down the feed liking every post made by someone he recognized, love reacting all of Alex's posts, and mostly ignoring the ads.

Until Michael saw an ad for an amusement park. It wasn't Disney, but it was instate, had roller coasters, food, carnival games...

_ And _ they had a veteran's deal (veteran plus one free!) that was being specifically targeted at his Purple Heart Recipient boyfriend. God, targeted ads were the worst... But it did give him a date idea, if Alex was down for it.

"Heyyy, Alex," he called.

"Yeah?" came the answer from the kitchen.

"How do you feel about, uhh, Astropark?" Dammit, he could guess the theme.

Alex poked his head out of the kitchen and made a face. "Very expensive."

"Besides that?" Michael scrolled through their website, full of pictures of people who looked like they were having fun.

"Well, we went a couple times with our mom when we were kids, it was pretty cool. Mostly 'cause Dad never went. Why?" He squinted and moved closer. "Were you on my Facebook again?"

"I'm only liking posts," Michael said hastily. 

Alex hummed doubtfully, but he rested a hand on Michael's head to tangle in his hair. 

"You left it open."

"It's my laptop."

"But look, they're doing a promotion! Much less expensive. Do you wanna go, like, as a date?"

On the one hand, Alex remembered it being a lot of walking, even for an eight-year-old with limitless energy. It'd undoubtedly be hot. And though he'd liked the rides back then, he wasn't sure how many he'd be allowed on minus a leg. But... Michael looked excited, like a kid. He'd probably never been to any place like that. And he did like to go out with him.

"Okay. It's a date." Alex leaned over and kissed Michael's temple when his face split into a grin. "Are you gonna carry me when I get tired of walking?"

Michael tugged his face down to kiss him properly. "I'll carry you whenever you want. When do you want to go?"

"What about Sunday?" That'd give Alex time to mentally prepare for being at the park, and maybe it'd be less busy.

Michael nodded and went back to scrolling down the Astropark website. "What was your favorite part?"

Alex dragged over another chair. "There are a lot of things to do there. It's difficult to say. And it's been like twenty years. But, well, I know it's hard to imagine, but I was a super nerdy kid." Alex shoved Michael's shoulder when he snorted. "They had a little panning thing, so I always took a bag of rocks home. And they had an observatory. We always went to the last show before we left."

"Sounds good." He opened Google maps and typed in the park. He grimaced at the travel time - about two hours. "Do you wanna drive?"

"Guerin, you're not driving me anywhere that far." Alex patted his cheek and went back to the kitchen. "Are you staying for dinner?"

Michael leaned back in the chair. "Only if I can sleep over, too."

"Yeah, yeah, come help cook, then."

He smiled to himself and opened a text editor so that he could start planning their day. "Just a sec." 

* * *

They agreed to get there as the park opened at ten in the morning, which meant that they had to leave at eight in the morning, which meant, to their dismay, that they had to wake up at seven in the morning. 

"Whose idea was this?" Michael groaned as Alex's alarm went off. 

"Yours." Alex was already up and gathering things. He was used to ass o'clock in the morning. "I snoozed it, so you can sleep for ten more minutes, okay?"

Michael pulled Alex's abandoned pillow over his head and mumbled through it. 

"Love you too."

Despite the slow start, they got out the door by eight as planned. Alex brought his backpack, though with a lot less bladed survival gear than usual. He still brought sunscreen, water bottles, and extra battery packs for their phones. Michael, on the other hand, had filled a cheap backpack with cheap snacks for their ride up, and he apparently fully expected the two of them to eat entire boxes of zebra cakes, nutty buddies, cosmic brownies, and soft sugar cookies in two hours. 

"I feel like you want us to die," Alex said when he caught a glimpse inside Michael's bag. 

Michael frowned and picked up a family-sized bag of lightly salted chips off the floor. "I am all about balance."

"Sugar and salt are not two ends of the same spectrum."

"They're both on the delicious end of the tasty spectrum. Zebra cake?"

Alex held out his hand.

* * *

Michael left his bag in the car, though not before pulling out a piece of paper he'd printed out at Alex's house the night before. 

"What's that?" Alex asked, grabbing for it.

"I made a plan," Michael announced, holding it away from him.

He laughed. "You did?"

"Yes, so we can see as much as possible."

"Guerin, you made an itinerary."

Michael folded it up and put it in his pocket. "It's just a plan. An outline. We don't have to do it."

"No, I'm sure you worked really hard on it," Alex said in an attempt not to tease him. "We just always winged it, and we definitely missed things every time."

Michael offered him a smile and brought out his paper to re-read. They took a tram from the parking lot to the front gate.

"What first, then?" Alex asked, their single day promotional tickets safely zipped away in his backpack. 

Michael squinted at the map he'd picked up. "Umm. You said you weren't sure they'd let you on the rides, so we should find someone to ask. I couldn't find anything definitive online."

They got the attention of a girl in a uniform with a pan and broom under one arm who was hyper-focused on the ground. Nonetheless, she smiled and greeted them. "What do you need?"

"Uh, is there a full limb requirement for the rides?" Alex asked awkwardly. 

She seemed confused for a moment, so he indicated his prosthetic. "Oh! Limb requirement. No, you only need three that can grip. If you go to any of the rides with computers and tell them what accommodations you need, they can print out a list of rides that meet them, but you shouldn't have any problem." She sucked in a breath. "I've heard of prosthetics coming off on some of our bigger coasters, but they should let you know if that might be an issue before you get in line."

Michael clapped Alex on the shoulder. "Thanks!"

"Yeah," he agreed.

"No problem," she chirped, and went back to examining the ground.

"Okay," said Michael, looking at his map again. "Then the closest one is Ursa Minor. It's kinda cute how they named all the rides after constellations."

Alex nodded. "Minor is good. That's the first coaster I ever rode."

"Really?"

"Guerin, it's at the front and has the lowest height requirement." He laughed. "Actually, my mom knew I was going to be half an inch too short for it and she mangled a pair of my shoes so I'd be able to ride it."

"Ugh, go Alex's mom! Locker for your backpack first." Michael grabbed Alex's hand and led the way. They opted for an all day locker they could move. 

"Don't forget your hat, unless you wanna lose it," Alex said, and he stole the black Stetson.

Ursa Minor was actually nestled inside Ursa Major, and parts of the tracks ran parallel, though Minor was much shorter and gentler. The employee guarding the entrance to the queue told them it was a five minute wait, but if they wanted, he could fill out a pass and they could come back in five minutes and get straight on.

"I might take you up on that later," Alex said. For the time being, he was all right waiting with Michael. After all, what sort of amusement park experience was it if they didn't wait in any lines?

"Does it bother you?" Michael wondered as they leaned against a railing in view of the station.

"What? Being visibly disabled?" Michael nodded, so Alex shrugged. "I could have worn pants. Not worth it. Anyway, it seems they're well trained here. You nervous?"

Michael scoffed to cover up his previous expression. "No, why would I be?"

"Well, if you're sure." Alex pulled him into the line for the front row. "Front's best."

"Why's that?"

"No one can spew on you."

"Gross."

"I've never seen it happen." Alex gave him a reassuring shoulder rub. "I just like to see where we're going."

Michael didn't have a chance to think about that; the gates opened and ushered them into the coaster's seats. "This's just lap bars!" he hissed.

"Yeah?"

"There's a loop!"

"I promise you're not gonna fall out." Alex offered him his hand, and Michael took it and sat beside him, pulling down the bar as he went. 

"It's a cool concept until you're in it," Michael said, as if to explain his evaporated enthusiasm. 

"Wait and see what you think. As fast as you drive your truck, I think you'll like it."

"Truck has seat belts," he grumbled. "Truck doesn't go upside down. Oh my god."

Alex couldn't help but laugh at him as the train began its ascent. He pointed at the bar in front of them. "Look, hold on to the thing."

"If you think I'm letting go of your hand--" Michael began, but he cut himself off when they reached the top of the lift. It was a lot to take in, even through the supports of Ursa Major. "Wow. Is that your car?"

Before Alex could answer, the coaster paused at the beginning of the drop, and Michael was squeezing his hand and yelling. Alex only laughed. The ride was fun, yes, but it was way better to see Michael experience it for the first time.

The station brakes were rough, and they climbed out with difficulty, since Michael still had Alex's hand like a bear trap. "So?"

He put a hand on each of Alex's shoulders. "Can we do that again?"

"Did you plan enough time?"

"I thought the wait time would be much longer." 

"Then yes. Told you you'd like it."

Michael smiled and took his hand again.

And so they went. 

Ursa Major, according to the man guarding the queue entrance, was one of the rides that could eat Alex's prosthetic, but the man listed off some types that were safe, and Alex fell in that category. Major was a floorless inverted coaster, but at least it had a harness. That felt much more secure to Michael. Nonetheless, he kept hold of Alex's hand the entire time. They rode Major twice, too, and by then, the lines were getting to be thirty and forty minute waits. 

"What's next?" Alex asked as he took his bag from the locker. He dropped the Stetson back on Michael's head.

"There are supposed to be carnival games down there. I'm gonna win you a giant stuffed animal. Very classic date thing, right?" 

Alex snorted. "Come on, those are pretty much all rigged."

"Oh, I don't know. I've always been really good at getting rings on bottles and balls in holes."

He realized what he meant and swatted at Michael's arm. "Guerin, don't, I swear to god."

But Michael only smiled innocently and sauntered up to the counter of the ring toss, where he placed a five dollar bill. "One bowl o' rings, please."

His smile turned evil as he purposely missed with his first two rings and got gold with the third. 

"I hate you," Alex said instantly. 

"You love me," Michael replied, quite pleased with himself. "Which one do you want?"

Alex frowned up at plushies until he spotted a good old stuffed grey matter alien. He pointed at it, and it was handed to Michael, who huffed. Alex grabbed the last few rings while he was distracted. He landed a small prize and another giant one without the help of alien powers.

"How'd you do that?"

"Guerin, I had a decade of weapons training. Which ones do you want?" 

Michael picked out a giant dinosaur and baby dinosaur to match. 

"And what exactly are we supposed to do with these?" Alex asked him over the dinosaur's neck.

The woman behind the counter, who had been trying to cover a laugh since Michael landed gold, piped up. "You can leave them with me if you fill out a little form. I'll take them to the front gift shop later, and you can pick them up when you leave."

"Sounds good to me," Alex said, relieved they didn't have to carry them around all day. He suspected that was Michael's intention. Still, they each filled out a form, and the woman stashed their giant prizes beneath the counter. Michael balanced the baby dinosaur on top of his hat.

"What sort of dinosaur is it?"

"Obviously it's a stetsosaur."

"Oh, of course. The elusive cowboy dinosaur."

The next area they walked through was partly under construction, and Alex frowned at a certain empty spot.

"What is it?"

"I think that's where the panning thing was." It's not like he really needed a bag of rocks. He could find loads of rocks around the Airstream if he wanted.

"Aw," Michael said, frowning at the spot as well. "Sorry, Alex. I thought the website said it was still up.  _ Asteroid Prospector _ or something."

Alex had forgotten it even had a name. More importantly, though, Michael had remembered what he'd said and looked into it. He kissed him quickly before taking his hand again. "Let me guess, Sagittarius is next?"

Michael nodded and accidentally knocked the baby stetsosaur off his head with the movement. "Nooo!" He picked it up immediately and dusted it off.

"All right, put him in the bag. He actually stayed up longer than I expected, but he'll be much safer in here."

Michael safely zipped away the plushie.

Sagittarius wasn't what one would refer to as a big coaster, but given it was a launch coaster, it had its charms. Magnets propelled the train out of the station at its top speed. Alex called it pleasant. Michael called it insane.

"Want to do a water ride?" he asked as he looked over his printout again. Alex had a feeling he had it memorized by then.

"They have water rides now? Great." The temperature was steadily rising, hovering around triple digits, so water could provide some relief. Alex wasn't sure he trusted Michael in that respect, though. "You just want to get me wet."

"I definitely do not need a water ride for that," Michael said.

"Guerin, this is a family park."

"Is that a no to a quickie in the bathroom?"

Alex could only roll his eyes, but that caused him to stop and stare up at a relatively new coaster. Michael stopped, too. 

"That's  _ high _ ."

"Look, they're going up." 

Others around them had stopped to watch the lift as well. "Is that drop straight down?" one asked.

"Website said ninety degrees straight down, yeah," Michael said vaguely, though he had his arms wrapped around Alex's in abject horror. 

Alex, however, was fascinated. Especially when-- 

"Oh my god, they've stopped over the edge. Is it broken?"

"I think that's purposeful."

The three-row car dropped with accompanying screams from the riders seconds later. It flew around a half loop to a second drop, not quite as steep with no pause. It went through a small pond and scooped water over anyone unlucky enough to not be paying attention just next to it. Children played in the puddles.

Michael, Alex noticed, was not paying attention any more, watching another car make its ascent. It  _ was _ hot. And his phone was, allegedly, waterproof. He wondered if he could time it. He could always take a video. Alex dragged his boyfriend over to the wall of the pond. 

"Let's take a picture as it goes by."

"What? Uhh, okay." 

Alex leaned against the wall for support, sure the water would be heavy, and held up his phone and hit record. Michael threw his arms around Alex's shoulders and planted a smooch on his cheek just as the car went by and drenched them.

"Shit!" Michael took off his hat, which had saved his hair and face but not the rest of him. He glared at Alex as he attempted to wring his clothes out while still wearing them, but he couldn't keep up the glare with him laughing. 

"You wanted to get wet," Alex said. "We just skipped a line."

"I'm wearing jeans," he whined. 

"Whose fault is that? Come on." Alex saw the next car coming, and they went to a safe spot in the sun where Michael pulled his t-shirt over his head to properly choke the water out of while pouting. Alex reviewed his video, or meant to, but he had to stare at Michael. "If you think that's going to make me feel bad, you are very wrong." 

Alex found a bench hewn into the wall of the pond and sat. Michael joined him after a moment, no longer shirtless, and leaned heavily on his shoulder to watch the video, too. 

"Is it all right if I post this?" Alex asked.

Michael snorted. "Yeah, share my suffering for the amusement of others. It's pretty funny."

He didn't mean the first part, but Alex kissed him to make up for it, anyway. "You know we'll be dry in a minute."

"I know. Hey. I'm really glad you're having a good time."

"It was a good idea, Guerin. Are you having fun?"

"I was!"

"And what exactly was your plan for the water ride? Somehow magically not get wet?"

"Wouldn't call it magic."

"Ah, I see. So you really were just wanting to get _ me _ wet." Alex posted the video and returned his phone to his bag. 

"I don't want you to overheat. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I let that happen?" 

"That's very thoughtful of you."

Michael pulled on Alex's shirt in disgust. "Your clothes are already dry. Unbelievable."

"I came prepared. What's this ride called, then?"

"Andromeda. A whole galaxy." Michael looked back up at the big drop. "You sure you wanna get on that thing?"

"I would like to try it. It's okay if you don't."

"What if we did...  _ not _ the front row?"

Alex patted him on the back; his shirt stuck. "All right. Let's go get one of those card things."

The wait time was an hour, and the yellow card they received listed a twenty minute range in an hour for them to return and skip the line. Across the way, Michael nodded at  _ Galaxy Galettes _ . "You hungry?"

"I could eat."

"The hell is a galette?"

Alex scanned the menu and couldn't find it. "Must just be alliterative."

"Ooh, funnel cake."

"We should eat some real food at least once today."

"We had breakfast at home!"

"At least twice today," Alex amended. 

Not that the little restaurant had much to offer.

"So our options are chicken fingers, hot dogs, or chili fries."

"Chili fries aren't real food either."

Michael groaned. "That's what I was gonna get."

"I know. Get one of the others and we'll split a funnel cake."

"All right, chicken then. And a beer. Wait, is buzzed roller coaster riding weird?"

"How in the world would I know?"

The man behind the counter considered them. "Increases your chances of losing your meal," he said shortly.

"Water," Michael said.

"Two waters, two chicken baskets, and one funnel cake, please."

The man nodded and shouted their order to the kitchen. It was ready by the time Alex was done paying, and they found a table to sit at and people watch as they ate. 

Opposite Andromeda was Aquarius, a water slide with two-person dinghies. 

"Okay, admittedly, that thing doesn't look fun," Michael said.

"Doesn't look particularly watery, either."

The people leaving the exit were dry. Michael nodded and focused on their food.

"These are good fries."

"Yeah."

"They'd be better with chili."

"Probably." Alex raised an eyebrow. "Next time, don't bring a bunch of Twinkie knock-offs, and we can eat whatever crap you want."

"Hey, if Twinkies were even a third as good as zebra cakes, I'd have brought some. Wait, next time?"

"I told you, it was a good idea."

"Halfway through and you already wanna go again? You  _ are _ having a good time." He pulled the funnel cake over and started to tear it to pieces. Powdered sugar rose above their table like disturbed sand in the desert. 

Alex really wasn't sure what Michael was getting at and took a couple pieces. "I very rarely don't have a good time with you."

"So, just to be clear, my date ideas are good?"

"You do realize that I probably have less dating experience than you do, right?" Alex rolled his eyes. "Yes, Guerin, your date ideas are good. Any time we're not in a bar is very exotic."

"You don't like bar dates?" Michael said as if he were about to jot that down.

"I love bar dates. It's not about the location. It's you. I'm dating  _ you _ ."

He dropped the funnel cake in favor of kissing Alex, covering him in powdered sugar in the process. He tasted sweet, too. Someone nearby wolf-whistled at them, but they couldn't figure out who it was, so Alex just laughed. "If my face is sticky after this, you're going to stand with me in the splash zone again."

By then, Michael was dry, so he rubbed his grimy sugar hands all over Alex's face. "Sticky? Oh no. Why would I do that to you on purpose. Alex, I never."

"You don't get to wear your hat this time, either," he said as he picked at the last of their cake. Michael pushed his hand deliberately into the leftover powder without breaking eye contact. "If you touch me with that we're riding in the front row."

Michael wiped the sugar on his pants after only a moment of hesitation.

They threw away their garbage, and predictably, Alex's face was indeed sticky, so he dragged Michael back over to the pond. "Wait, wait, wait, I take it back, I don't want my jeans wet again."

"It's this or I murder you outright," Alex said grimly, holding him in place as well as using him for balance. "You can't take back powdered sugar, Guerin."

Michael noticed him listing to his left and grabbed his arms to help stabilize him in spite of himself. He didn't have time to make a joke about the sugar (something like "the glitter of baking"). Soaked again, they went back to the bench in the sun, and Alex pulled a washcloth from his backpack to rub at his neck.

"You had that before? You just wanted me shirtless again," Michael said as he wrung out his shirt, again.

"I mean, yeah, I had multiple reasons." Alex passed him the washcloth for his hair. "But I really do not like being sticky."

"Sure." He pointed at one of his ribs. "Gonna get a tattoo right here that says  _ god's gift to Alex Manes _ ."

Alex snorted and handed the Stetson back to him. Michael dropped it onto his head without putting his shirt back on and crowded Alex's personal space. "How long before we get on Andromeda and die, Private?"

"We're not gonna die, but a couple more minutes." He pulled Michael closer so it was less crowding and more a hug. "I'm pretty sure they won't let you ride without a shirt."

"You've seen through my plan," he deadpanned.

"We don't have to ride it. We can do the next thing."

"No, you want to, so I want to. Couldn't let you die alone."

"We're not dying here, and I bet you'll like this one, too."

"Oh? What're we betting?"

"You can drive home if you don't like it."

Michael traded his hat for his shirt. "You're on."

* * *

He did not win the bet.

* * *

Astropark was essentially a giant circle, so making their way through everything they wanted to do was pretty straight forward. When they got to a wooden roller coaster called Inner Solar System Mining Co., Michael pulled on Alex's arm and pointed excitedly at its gift shop. "Look, they do still have it!"

The panning set up had been moved and rebranded to go with the wooden roller coaster, another one that had gone up in the two decades since Alex had last been there. Beside the ISSMC stickers plastered to everything, it was pretty much the same: running water, bags of dirt, screened pans.

Michael got distracted by a giant sparkly amethyst cluster on display above the fountain. It glittered purple and violet in the sun. "That's big. It'd look great on your front porch, Alex!"

"So everyone can tell me what a nice boulder I have." Alex pointed out a label near its back. "For a measly twelve hundred dollars."

Michael scoffed at the price tag and turned his attention to the panning. "How do you do this?"

"Buy dirt with rocks, wash dirt away with water, take rocks home. I don't know if I really need a whole bag of rocks, though," Alex said. 

Michael looked through the bags. "What about fossils? This one says it has fossils in it."

"First dinosaurs, now fossils. What's even happening?"

He stuck out his tongue and carefully selected the fattest fossil bag he could find. "Excuse me, I think I can get all my alien-themed stuff back home."

"Fair enough."

"You gonna do one or what?"

"I feel like Michael Junior is a plenty good souvenir. I'll watch."

Michael gasped. "I can't believe you would give something so ugly my name."

"I thought it was cute."

He lifted the dirt bag above his head with one hand and quickly went to the cashier to hide his smile. 

Alex walked around the artificial stream and picked out a pan and a clean bag for the fossils. There was even an info card with identifying pictures of what could be in the mix. 

Michael returned after a minute, the bag open, digging around inside like it was full of chips. "All right, now what?"

Alex watched him with amusement. "Looks like you're trying to find the best chip to eat."

He realized what he was doing and slowly took his hand out. "It's... nice dirt?"

Alex burst out laughing, and Michael joined in.

"Just pour some of it on the screen."

Michael did so and tried to explain himself. "The girl said there could be grub fossils, so I said, well thanks for the grub! I wasn't even thinking."

Alex nodded. "Clearly." He shook the pan so the dirt pile evened out, then handed it back to Michael and leaned heavily on the wood. All the walking was getting to him. "Dunk it in the water till all the dirt goes away."

"It's pretty calming," Michael said as they picked through the first batch of cleaned stones. He turned up a helix fossil and showed Alex, who nodded in agreement. "Let's leave the planet and be asteroid prospectors."

They very nearly had the means to do so, but it sounded more like one of Michael's weekly misanthropic hermit declarations (if he could only convince Alex to come along) than an actual wish to go. He had also suggested becoming volcanologists in Greenland, lobster farmers in Maine, and hoarders in a bubble under the Pacific Ocean, "you know, like Tamatoa."

"Yeah, but there isn't any oxygen in space. Calm is difficult while your brain is dying." 

Michael sighed. "True."

Once they were satisfied that they found all the fossils in the bag, Alex turned over the card and significantly smaller bag of stones to Michael. "Congratulations on your first bag of rocks."

"Thank you. I'm very proud. I'm going to arrange them on the dashboard of the Airstream." He put them in his pocket and pulled out his phone to check the time. "Oh, damn, we gotta go."

"Go?" Alex raised his eyebrow, sure the park didn't close for another two hours or so.

"The last observatory show is in twenty minutes. Do you want to get a pass for this monstrosity first or just come back later?"

He blinked at him. 

"Alex?"

He pushed himself up and grabbed Michael's shirt to crash their lips together. The stream in between them didn't lend well to the action, and Michael accidentally splashed them both. Alex broke off to rest his forehead against Michael's. "You're a real catch, you know that, Guerin?"

Michael laughed breathlessly. "Love you too."

Alex looked up at the wooden coaster. They were notoriously rough rides, and he was already almost about to hold Michael's "I'll carry you whenever you want" to him. "I can ride the monstrosity next time. I don't think I'm up for it. Do you want to?"

"Nah," Michael said without disappointment. "Don't wanna go without you. It looks so nice and rickety, though."

"They used to have a different wooden coaster there. I think it was called Moon Landing. It was painful. That one doesn't look any smoother." 

They walked around the panning set up and joined hands like magnets. "To the observatory, then."

"With haste!"

Astropark's observatory was a large, domed building, the oldest one in the park. The air conditioning inside was incredibly strong. It felt good after being outside all day. They arrived ten minutes before the show began, so they found good seats and huddled up as best they could with armrests in the way.

The script hadn't changed much in twenty years, so Alex mostly focused on Michael's enraptured face in the dark. This place was nostalgic for him, and it was for Michael, too, in another way. He'd told Alex previously that, though he couldn't remember anything from before the pod, he knew he'd been out there, with his mom, and ever since he met her, he could almost feel it whenever he looked at the stars. 

When Alex asked him what he felt, he said, "Love." 

He gently squeezed Michael's hand, and he looked at him, his expression of wonder never changing.

"This place is so cool," he whispered.

"I'm happy to share it with you," Alex whispered back. And, well, he tried not to distract him from the show for too long, but he couldn't help but kiss Michael when he looked at him like that.

* * *

The pair decided to head home after the show, but first they had to pick up Michael Junior and Greater Stetsosaur. They made the tram ride slightly awkward, but they got to Alex's car without fatally hurting anyone. Alex tossed them in the back, but Michael belted them in securely. With the plushies taken care of, Alex and Michael got into the front and plugged their phones in. 

"Apparently you're quite popular wet," Alex observed. His notifications had blown up on his video. 

"Obviously."

One comment was a screencap from Liz, taken right before the water hit them. Her message: "Ok but u guys are literally the cutest it's not even fair."

"Liz thinks we're cute," Alex relayed.

Michael leaned over Alex's phone and tapped like on her comment. "She's right."

He sighed and held out his hand. "Give me your phone."

"Why?" he asked, but he did anyway.

"I'm making you a Facebook."

Michael made a face. "Why?"

"Because we can't share an account, and because I want to make that my profile picture, and I want you to make it your profile picture."

"Fine, but I'm never going to post anything, and I'm going to love react everything you post."

"So the usual, but less weird because it will no longer look like I'm love reacting my own posts. Sounds good, Guerin." Alex scrolled down the list of suggestions and added everybody before he returned Michael's phone. The requests quickly got accepted.

"Okay, I'll post one thing." Michael dug the baby dino out of Alex's bag, then held up his phone to make sure he, Alex, and the plushies in the back were all in the frame.

" _Headed home w @Alex Manes, Michael Jr, Greater Stetsosaur, and Baby Stetsosaur_."

**Author's Note:**

> The good news is I am not going to spend ninety hours on roller coaster tycoon trying to build Astropark. (It's not real but heck if I didn't make up a really cool sounding park gdi.) (Okay, admittedly, some of the coasters are based on ones at the park I work at.) (Yes, staring-at-the-ground girl is me.)  
> The three limb accessibility thing is true by the way, at least at the park I work at. It's really, really terrible, but my first supervisor told us that "I know it sounds bad, but as long as they can tripod, they can go on anything" o3o  
> okay I hope you liked it as much as I did! bc i cracked myself up. bye!!!


End file.
